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Updated: Sep 12, 2026
Measuring 3D In-vivo Shoulder Kinematics using Biplanar Videoradiography
Published on: March 12, 2021
High-Velocity Changeups and Sweeper Usage Are Associated With Increased Odds of Undergoing Arthroscopic Shoulder
Clay Rahaman1, Maxwell Harrell, Dev Dayal
1Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama.
Objective:
The objective of this study was to determine whether pitch-specific characteristics, including velocity, spin rate, and pitch type usage, are predictive of arthroscopic shoulder labral repair (ASLR) in major league baseball (MLB) pitchers.
Design:
A retrospective analysis was conducted using MLB pitchers who underwent ASLR between 2016 and 2024. Pitch metrics were collected from Baseball Savant, a baseball sabermetric database, and compared with healthy league averages. Mann-Whitney U-tests and logistic regression were used to assess differences and predictors of ASLR.
Setting:
Major league baseball.
Participants:
Twenty-seven pitchers met the inclusion criteria by having Baseball Savant data from the season before undergoing ASLR.
Interventions:
None.
Main Outcome Measures:
Preinjury pitch metrics, including velocity, spin rate, movement profiles, and pitch usage.
Results:
Twenty-seven pitchers who underwent ASLR were compared with 6444 healthy league-average pitchers. Pitchers who threw changeups at higher velocities had increased odds of ASLR [P = 0.0028; odds ratio (OR) = 1.263]. Greater use of low-velocity changeups (P = 0.0279; OR = 0.942) and other off-speed pitches (P = 0.0058; OR = 0.929) was associated with lower odds of undergoing ASLR, whereas higher sweeper usage (P = 0.0194; OR = 1.071) was associated with increased odds.
Conclusions:
Major league baseball pitchers who threw higher-velocity changeups demonstrated increased odds of undergoing ASLR. In contrast, those who threw a higher proportion of lower-velocity changeups and other off-speed pitches, and fewer sweepers, showed decreased odds of labral repair.